The Problem of Banishment
by person226
Summary: A type of banishment in Archenland allows the banished to come back if they have consent from a foreign royal. After an attack at Cair, Edmund is taken and forced to give this particular consent. This is can not a good thing for the dear Just King...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: First Narnia fanfic... :) My all time favorite stories and I've kind of had this sitting on my computer for a while, so I decided to post it. Read it, let me know what you think, and I'll post another chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia, which really sucks, but it's probably for the best...**

It was a beautiful night, Edmund observed. There was a light breeze that swayed the trees softly enough for the leaves to make a quiet rustling. Edmund was supposed to get up particularly early. There was a dispute that needed to be settled as soon as possible. Edmund didn't want to go to sleep though. How could someone sleep on such a beautiful night like this? He was actually tempted to go down to the beach and take a little night swim.

Edmund squinted his eyes when he saw the trees rustling a bit more in a certain section. They weren't moving with the wind or other trees. It was as if someone was pushing them aside. He went to grab his telescope off the table to look closer. He nearly dropped it when he saw a group of hags coming towards Cair. They had their hands outstretched and were chanting something. Right behind them was an army of fell beasts.

Edmund ran to the door, grabbing his sword in the process. As sooon as he ran out in the hall, he almost bumped into Lucy and her night guard.

Lucy quickly balanced the glass of milk she had. "Ed! You scared me! What are you-"

"Cair's under attack." He quickly explained, already strating to head to the armory. "Tell Peter and raise the alarm!" Edmund turned around and started running again, not checking to see if Lucy heard him correctly.

Lucy stared at his retreating form for a few moments before turning to her guard. "I'll let Peter know. You go raise the alarm and let everyone else know."

The panther nodded his head and sprinted down the hall. Lucy placed her milk down on a random table before running to Peter's room. Before she made it there, the warning bells sounded. She was glad the panther was quick.

* * *

"Peter! Oh, Peter, quickly! Get up!"

Peter shot up in bed as he heard Lucy's cries enter his bedroom. The warning bells were going off. He stared at her as she ran towards him, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of bed.

"You have to hurry!" she continued without explaining what was going on.

Peter had no idea what to expect. Had an ambassador try and corner Susan? Was Edmund having nightmares again? Had one of the Beavers fallen deathly ill? The bells wouldn't be going off for something like that. "Lu, what's going on?" Peter finally managed to find his voice. Sleep was still clouding his mind.

Before Lucy could explain, Orieus came in. "Sire, we're under attack."

Peter thought he'd been prepared to hear anything…but this? That would explain the bells. "What do you mean?" Peter demanded. He quickly moved to put on a tunic and his belt, grabbing his sword as well.

"We believe they're from the north. Part of the resistance army." Orieus said.

Peter's blood ran cold. It had been nearly seven years since the battle with the White Witch. They thought they had wiped out all her followers by now. Or at least there wasn't enough for them to attack anymore. "Lucy, I want you to go down to the kitchen with Mrs. Beaver. Make sure Susan's there too. And before you say you want to help, you can help by doing as I say. Now go." he ordered.

Lucy made a small face, but didn't argue. Now wasn't the time. "Please be careful." She said as she gave him a quick, but strong hug and made her way out of Peter's chambers.

"Does Edmund already know?" Peter asked as he picked up his shield and followed Orieus to the armory.

"He was the one to alert everyone. Not even the guards realized we were being attacked."

A frown made it's way to Peter's face. "Let me guess. There's hags that have been enchanting the place."

Orieus just grimaced in reply.

Inside the armory, all kinds of Narnians were running about, putting armor on and picking up any kind of weapon. As Peter moved to the shelf where his personal armor was, he couldn't help but notice Edmund's armor was still on the shelf. The only thing that wasn't there was his shield.

A horrible feeling began spreading through Peter's stomach. "Where's Edmund right now?" he asked, putting on his breastplate.

"He's already on the battle line, sire. From what I understand the front line to be more specific."

Peter scowled. That sounded just like Edmund. Running head first into a battle without proper protection. "I'm going to kill him if he doesn't get killed first."

* * *

Dodge. Duck. Swing. Jump. Slash. It was almost like a dance for Edmund. All his senses were working on over-drive, identifying all the enemies in his vicinity, their weakness, when to attack, and when they were going to attack. It was brilliant.

He could feel a dull ache in his left shoulder, but he figured that was from switching his sword from one arm to another. Even though Orieus had taught him and Peter how to handle a sword using either hand, Edmund always favored handling swords with his right hand.

He knew that when Peter finally made his way out to the battlefield, he would have a fit. Edmund didn't exactly put on any armor, mainly because there was no time, seeing as the fell army had already started attacking and there was no proper defense. Edmund would just have to be extra careful.

A black dwarf charged towards him. "Not only were you a traitor to Aslan, but you're also a traitor to Queen Jadis!" he hissed.

Edmund's face contorted in rage as he slashed at the dwarf, making sure he wouldn't move again. He couldn't let those words bother him. Not in the heat of battle. If he lost his focus, then things would definitely be bad for him.

Yes, Edmund did understand he was _literally_ in the middle of the enemy army, but it wasn't important. He just had to get rid of the enemy and things would be fine. There was no room for distractions.

"Edmund!"

Speaking of distractions…

Edmund turned quickly and saw a mop of blond hair. He grinned. "Finally decided to come out and play?" he joked. Swing. A hag fell at Edmund's feet as he spun around and engaged with a harpy.

"Ed, get out of there and put some armor on! If Lucy finds out-"

Edmund shook his head. And the beginning of Peter's fit was just starting. "Yeah, she'll kill me right after you do!" Edmund retorted. He dodged a dagger that was thrown in his direction and it instead landed in a wolf's neck. Edmund searched the sea of people in search for Peter again. He was about a meter away from him. "I'll be fine Peter."

Edmund watched Peter perfectly strike down a minotaur. "I'm being serious Ed!"

Edmund spun around and avoided an attack from two dwarves. His head suddenly felt light from the quick spin and his vision started blurring. He quickly shook himself and recovered in time to avoid another attack. "You better go help the fauns take out the archers from the back! They need all the help they can get!" Edmund yelled.

"But please be careful and get some armor on!" Peter pleaded.

"I will! Don't worry. Now go!"

Only on the battlefield would Peter ever take orders from Edmund.

Edmund glanced over his shoulder to see Peter making his way to the archers, just as he suggested. He couldn't help but smile in small victory as he turned back to battle with the latest enemy.

"Traitor!" someone cried out.

The word rang in Edmund's head like an unbidden alarm. He shook his head and shut his eyes, narrowly avoiding a sword on his thigh.

His shoulder was started to hurt more and his vision wasn't clearing up. Something wasn't right. Edmund continued fighting as best as he could, but it was getting harder. He started to try and get out of the fighting so he could put on some armor, but there was just so many creatures everywhere, all of them fighting. It was starting to get darker than what it should be and his shoulder began last thing he saw before his vision and consciousness failed him was a Minotaur charging towards him with an axe.

* * *

Susan worriedly roamed her eyes over the battlefield. The fighting had lasted about an hour and she didn't even know how long it had been going on before Lucy woke her up. Bodies were strewn over the beach of Cair Paravel. Susan couldn't help but think the blood of the Witch's army had contaminated the water. That clear, wonderful water that you could just drink up…

The size of the army had been…incredible. Susan couldn't have ever imagined that so many had remained loyal to the Witch. The Narnian army had been fierce in their fighting though. Most of the fell army was either dead or imprisoned in the dungeons.

The sun slowly started to peek over the horizon, making the sky change to a red hue, nearly matching all the blood that covered the ground. How fitting, Susan thought somberly.

"The fighting's been over for nearly two hours. Why haven't we seen Peter or Edmund yet?" Lucy asked as she stood up from her chair and started to pace the kitchen floor.

"Maybe because for the first hour we were out tending to wounds and the second hour, you were asking everyone if they've seen either of our brothers." Susan pointed out. Logic. It was all Lucy lacked. A little bit of logic.

Lucy sat down with a small huff. "But someone should've known where they were. The only information they gave me was where they had been fighting. I don't want to know where they had been fighting, I want to know if they're still alive and if they're going to need any of my potion." Lucy said, feeling a bit exasperated with the situation.

Susan was feeling frustrated as well, but one of them needed to stay fairly calm. It wouldn't be good for the kingdom if they had both Pevensie ladies in a worried state. "They're probably fine. If something had gone wrong, we would've been notified immediately."

Lucy stood up and went to stand next to her older sister. "I don't understand. I thought Peter and Edmund had wiped out all of her followers." She said in a small whisper.

Susan pursed her lips. "Everyone thought so." She said. "They must've fled to the mountains in Ettinsmoor.

"But so many of them?"

There was a firm knock on the door before it opened. Orieus came in and gave a small bow. "Your majesties."

Susan and Lucy both saw the grave expression on his face. They had seen that same look many times when he came to tell them one of their brothers had been injured.

"Where are they?" Lucy demanded to know, her voice shaking slightly with fear and worry.

"King Peter is down in the dungeons."

Susan noticed the lack of Edmund's name. "And Edmund?" Susan tried keeping her voice steady, but she knew it shook just as Lucy did.

Orieus looked at both queens, as if determining the best way to tell them the news. "Nobody knows. We can't find him anywhere. They are searching for him out on the battlefield, but they are no traces of him anywhere."

Susan inhaled sharply and Lucy reached out for her hand, giving it a harsh squeeze.

"What do you mean?" Lucy's voice was now shaking uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry your majesty, but-"

"What's Peter doing in the dungeons? He should be looking for Edmund right now!" Susan exclaimed, not waiting for Orieus to finish his sentence.

"He _is_ looking for him, my lady. They captured a general and he's trying to get information from him."

Susan held her head high, knowing what needed to be done. "Take us to him."

* * *

The wolf stared at Peter, his eyes narrowed. The only thing Peter had found out was this wolf was one of their generals and his name was Bayne.

Peter grabbed the iron bars separating him from the wolf. "I'll ask you once more. Where is my brother?" Peter said through gritted teeth.

The wolf smirked. "Asking the wrong questions, aren't we?" he taunted.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Peter yelled.

Bayne didn't even so much as flinch at Peter's outburst. "You're so worried about finding your precious baby brother, you aren't even worried if there's going to be another attack, or if there's another wave of soldiers on their way right now. You're not even so much as curious as to why we waited so long to attack, are you?"

Peter clenched his jaw. He knew those things were just as important as finding out where Edmund was, if not more, but he needed to make sure Edmund was all right. "If you'd just tell me where Edmund is, then I'll start asking all kinds of other questions. Especially since you seem so eager to tell me about it."

Bayne barked out a laugh. "This is exactly why you're unfit to be king."

Peter was about to lunge for the wolf, when he heard someone calling out his name. Peter didn't mean to cringe when he realized it was Susan.

"What do you think you're doing?" Susan cried as she stormed towards him, followed by Lucy and Orieus.

"I'm trying to find Edmund. What else do you think I'm doing?" he growled.

"It doesn't look like you're getting anywhere." She pointed out with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

Peter glared at Bayne as he let out snicker. "If you'd just let me finish what I was doing-"

"No." Susan said. "You are not about to do this alone."

Peter's face softened ever so slightly. "Susan, I am not going to let you and Lucy get involved in this."

"Edmund's our brother too, Peter. We're already involved." Lucy said quietly.

"As is all of Narnia." Orieus added. "Your reign wouldn't be complete without him."

Peter stared at the three of them before looking at Bayne. "He doesn't seem to want to say where Edmund is."

Oreius strode forward. "I'll take care of it. It would be best if your majesties left."

* * *

Edmund felt something trickle into his lips. Lucy's potion, he thought gratefully. That would mean the pain he felt everywhere would go away in a few seconds…

A frown covered Edmund's face. The pain wasn't going away. If anything, it had intensified. "Lu…" he choked out. "Don't think it's working." He mumbled weakly.

Instead of a direct response, Edmund heard whispering.

"What do we tell him?"

"I don't think we should tell him anything."

"He thinks you're his sister. Oh, this is bad. I told you this was a bad idea! We're going to be in so much trouble!"

"Stop worrying, we aren't going to be caught. "

Edmund tried to open his heavy eyes, but they wouldn't respond. Had he been taken to the healers? Why hadn't he been taken directly to his siblings? "Where's…Pete…where is he?"

"Great! Now he's looking for King Peter!"

Edmund finally managed to open his eyes. He blinked several times as he tried to focus on the people hovering over him. A faun and…a dryad? No, the woman over him had a sure form. She wasn't just leaves swirling around. A female faun? No, she lacked the horns on her head. She definitely wasn't a dwarf. Edmund wondered momentarily if there were even such thing as female dwarves. There was only one possible answer. A centaur.

"Just…take me to Lucy…make sure neither of you get in trouble…Pete'll understand." Edmund said. He tried to sit up, but a blast of white pain shot through his shoulder. He let out a cry and fell back. As he did, he took notice that he didn't fall back to a soft bed or pillow. It was grass. He was somewhere outside on the ground. He realized there were trees above him as well. Loads of trees. He was somewhere in a forest. The Western Woods perhaps?

"Sybil, I think he's starting to figure things out…" the faun said.

The centaur, obviously named Sybil, shushed him. "We can't let him know our names!" she hissed.

Edmund carefully brought up his right hand to his head since he couldn't move his left hand without his body protesting in sharp pain. "Where am I?"

"Okay, I really think we should tell him." The faun said, practically bouncing with anxiety.

"Would you please calm down? You know as well as I do that if we tell him what we're doing, we're going to surely get into some kind of trouble."

While they were arguing, Edmund moved to reach into his pocket for a dagger. Once it was firmly in his grasp, Edmund pushed himself up and grabbed the faun, pressing his dagger to his neck. Despite his head spinning madly and his body screaming in protest, Edmund stayed upright. He looked to Sybil. "Tell me where I am or the faun dies."

Sybil grabbed a bow and arrow that was next to her and stood up, towering over Edmund. "You won't harm him. He's a Narnian and you could never bring yourself to physically harm a Narnian, no matter the situation.

Edmund stared at Sybil. She had two legs. She wasn't a centaur. She was a human. But she wasn't dark like the Calormenian's. She was fair skinned, like someone from Archenland.

It didn't make any sense. Narnia was on good terms with Archenland. Why would someone from Archenland take him? Were they connected with the battle that had taken place the night before?

Edmund lowered the dagger and the faun quickly scrambled up, dusting himself off. He hid behind Sybil and stared at Edmund as if he were going to pounce on him at any give moment.

"Who are you?" Edmund demanded to know. His vision was starting to blur again and he felt horribly light headed. He had to stay conscious long enough to figure out who these people were and what they wanted with him.

"Sybil…I really think we should tell him."

Sybil glanced over her shoulder. "I guess we should…you've probably figured out I'm Sybil and this is Drumit. We're…"

Edmund didn't hear anything else as he felt himself falling back again and his vision turning black.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"And you don't know where they came from?" Peter asked for the third time. He pushed aside the cup of tea that had just been placed in front of him a moment ago. There was a small biscuit there too, but he wasn't going to eat it. How could he eat right now?

"No, sire. It's as if they had just appeared from thin air. I can't explain it. They were using some kind of dark magic." The mastiff said, lowering his head. He was the head of the night watch and he should've seen this coming. It was obvious he was blaming himself for the attack. "The hags were producing some kind of spell that made them invisible to all of the guards. It wasn't until King Edmund ordered the alarm to be raised did we finally see them. I am truly sorry for not preparing properly."

"It was not your fault. Like you said, the hags were casting spells. It's a wonder they didn't affect anyone else." Peter said, doing his best to stay calm.

The mastiff bowed once before leaving Peter's room.

"It's nearly been an hour." Susan said as she stood up from the couch. "Don't you think Orieus should be done by now?"

"I don't know, Su. If I had it my way, I would've found out the moment I went in to question him." Peter said, placing his elbows on his desk and leaning forward

The door opened with a small knock and Lucy came in. Her face was grave and Peter immeidately feared the worse. He stood up, staring at Lucy. "What is it?" he asked in a tight voice.

"Fifteen." She answered softly.

Peter and Susan both frowned. "Fifteen what?" Susan asked.

"A total of fifteen of our own dead." She said, looking at them both.

Peter bit the inside of his cheek as he wrapped an arm around Lucy. "I'm sorry, Lucy."

Lucy sniffled. "What if it turns into sixteen?"

"Why would it turn into sixteen? All the injured are being properly taken care and none of the healers think any will die." Susan said.

"…Edmund…" she barely said above a whisper. As soon as she said his name, a floodgate of tears opened and she was sobbing on Peter's shoulder.

Peter slowly moved her to the couch and held her, rubbing her back as she cried. Four hours had now passed since the battle had ended. There was still no sign of Edmund and they didn't seem any closer to figuring out where he was.

Susan moved to hug her sister, smoothing down her hair. Peter noticed Susan's face was shining with a few tears as well. He was supposed to protect his family and make sure nothing would ever bring them pain. He was doing a fine job of that, wasn't he?

There was a knock on the door. Peter gave Lucy a kiss on the top of her head before letting go and standing up. He cleared his throat, "Come in."

Orieus came in and first noticed the two queens crying on the couch. "I'm sorry, your majesties. Am I intruding?"

Susan wiped her tears away, still holding Lucy. "No, it's fine, Orieus. Were you able to find anything out from the wolf?"

Orieus pursed his lips as he stared at the royals. All three of them were now looking at him with hope etched on their faces. How was he supposed to tell them? "The wolf has told me everything he knows."

Peter narrowed his eyes. "I only care to hear about information that deals with Edmund right now."

Orieus took a deep breath, knowing the answer wasn't going to be the one they were looking for. "It wasn't part of their plan. They were going to kill Edmund inside the castle. They weren't planning on taking him hostage."

Peter swallowed thickly. "Then what have they done with him?"

"If they took him, they would've taken him to Stone Table. They would most likely kill him there."

"You said _if_." Susan repeated slowly.

"Like I said, they no one had not any planneds on taking King Edmund."

"We still have to go to Stone Table. Gather two hundred soldiers. We're leaving now."

Orieus nodded and bowed before trotting out of the room. Lucy was now sitting up and staring at him. "What if there's a huge army waiting for you?" Lucy asked.

Peter knelt down in front of her, grabbing both of their handsgrabbing her hands. "We'll be prepared this time. You know how fierce the Narnian warriors can be. It'll be all right."

"Just bring Edmund back safely." Susan said, leaning forward to give Peter a hug.

Peter nodded his head. "I'll do whatever it takes."

* * *

Something was trickling down Edmund's throat. The taste was horrible. It reminded him of some spiced meat the Calormen king sent. Edmund coughed and gagged it up, making his body hurt in the process.

He heard a click of a tongue. "Sybil, he isn't drinking this. He has to drink this. If he doesn't drink this, then he's not going to be coherent for another five hours and if he isn't coherent in five hours, you aren't going to be able to explain what's going on and then I'm going to have to explain it and you know how I get whenever I have to explain things. Things never come out right and then my tongue gets all tied up and then people assume things when I never said them, but they say I said the equivalent and-"

"Drumit, you do realize that I didn't understand a word of what you just said. Don't you remember what I've told you? Breathe while speaking. Breathe."

Edmund opened his eyes and saw Drumit turned away from him, looking at Sybil who was tending to a fire. They weren't outside anymore. They had moved him indoors, but there were branches and roots everywhere. It reminded Edmund of the Beaver's dam for a moment, but this place was much more bigger. Large enough for a human to stand up straight.

"I still don't think that any of this is a good idea. I mean, the trouble we could into! High King Peter, Queen Susan and Queen Lucy…they'll probably follow one of the barbaric traditions of the Calormen's and cut off our heads!"

Sybil sighed and shook her head. "I'm going to tell you once more, Drumit. No one is going to find out a thing. Besides, people aren't executed like that in Narnia."

"Oh…well, that actually makes me feel better." Drumit said sincerely.

"They hang them instead." Sybil said with a small smirk.

Drumit rolled his eyes. "And that just ruined any good feelings I had."

"Just don't worry at all about it, Drumit. It'll be all fine."

Edmund tested out his muscles as he listened to Sybil continuing her reassurance to Drumit. His whole left side was still hurting horribly and there was a dull ache on the side of his head. Edmund slowly moved his hand down to his leg, reaching for another hidden dagger.

"If you honestly think we wouldn't have searched you for any other hidden weapons, you must be duller than I thought."

Edmund looked up and saw Sybil aiming a loaded crossbow at him. Drumit was standing behind her, practically biting off his entire fingernail.

Edmund narrowed his eyes as he slowly pushed himself up. He only managed to prop himself up by his elbows. "Why am I here?" his voice was stronger than the last time he spoke, but it was still laced with pain.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to reveal that to you just yet…" Sybil said. "Drumit, finish giving him the draught."

Drumit cast a wary glance at Sybil before going back to Edmund.

Edmund tried to fight him as Drumit pushed him to lay back down.

"Now don't fight." Drumit said. "If anything, it's going to make your wounds worse. And I had just bandaged your head. I don't want to have to do it again."

Edmund stared at the vial in Drumit's hand. "What is it?"

"A potion. That's all you need to know." Sybil said, lowering her crossbow.

Edmund wanted to keep his mouth shut and not drink anything that Drumit gave him, but he was so thirsty…he coughed again as he felt the thick liquid go down his throat. It only made him thirstier. At least he didn't spit it back up this time.

Drumit smiled in approval. "Do you think you'd be up to eating something? It wouldn't bedo good for you to pass out because of hunger."

Edmund grimaced at the thought of food. Once again he felt lightheaded. "Just tell me what you want with me." Edmund said, doing his best to sit up on his own.

Sybil smiled. She set the crossbow down and returned to tending to the fire. "You, King Edmund, are going to help us. Well, more of help me, but Drumit gets benefited too."

"You've kidnapped me. What makes you think I'm going to help you?" Edmund deadpanned.

Sybil pulled up a stool and sat in front of him. "You think we kidnapped you?"

"Uh, Sybil…he said you…that's singular. I was not involved." Drumit said.

Edmund scowled. "You were her accomplice. You'll most likely get the same punishment."

Drumit's face fell.

Sybil rolled her eyes. "We didn't kidnap you. No, we practically rescued you."

Edmund scoffed. He regretted it in his head as it made his shoulder ache as well as his side. "Rescued me? I didn't need any rescuing. Especially from a jumpy faun and a _girl_."

Sybil narrowed her eyes. "Since you have two sisters, I wouldn't expect you to be masochist, but you are. When we found you, you were practically half dead. Plus, you were about to be finished off by a wolf. If it hadn't been for Drumit tackling the wolf, you would've been dead." Sybil said matter-of-factly as she crossed her arms.

"I didn't exactly tackle the wolf…you pushed me towards him, saying you needed a distraction…" Drumit mumbled under his breath.

Edmund kept his glare on Sybil. "Then why didn't you take me to my brother? Or even to one of my sisters?"

"Like I said. We need your help." Sybil stood up and walked to a small table. She grabbed a piece of parchment and tossed it to Edmund. "Read that."

Edmund grabbed the paper and slowly lowered his gaze to the parchment. He had to blink a few times for his eyes to focus on the words. 'Sybil of Archenland has hereby been banished from the country under penalty of death.' The rest was a few paragraphs that recited the laws of Archenland. "Why were you banished." Edmund asked after a few moments.

Sybil didn't give an answer as she took the parchment back. "It's not important. All that's important is you're my key to getting un-banished."

Edmund didn't like the sound of her idea. If she was banished, then it must've been for a good reason. He was not about to help her get un-banished. No, he'd fight her as best he could, no matter how badly injured he was at the moment.

"Watch him, Drumit." Sybil said as she stood up suddenly and pulled on a cloak.

"Wait, you can leave me with him!" Drumit pleaded. He looked warily from Edmund to Sybil. It was obvious he believed Edmund could subdue him even now. "Where are you even going?"

Sybil shook her head as she grabbed a dagger and placed it in Drumit's hand. "I've got to find food. I'll be back soon."

As Sybil left, Edmund craned his neck to look outside. The sun was out, which surprised him. The brightness momentarily blinded him, but he quickly focused his vision. He could make out trees and a small hill with something at the very top. The door shut before Edmund could find any landmark that might tell him where he was.

Drumit slowly turned to Edmund and looked at the dagger in his hands. He quickly set it down and placed his hands behind his back. "Um…I swear, it was all her idea!"

* * *

Peter was the first one to arrive at the Stone Table. That also meant he was the first one to realize no one was there. He spun around to look at Orieus who had just caught up with him. The rest of the army were making their way up the hill.

"There's no one here." Peter growled. His hand was resting on his sword, ready to pull it out for a surprise attack. His eyes darted around, trying to find any enemy, but the area was completely clear aside from his own army.

Orieus looked around. "There is a possibility they're waiting for us to let our guard down."

Peter shook his head, trying not to let his frustration show. "I thought the wolf had told you there were more fell beasts here."

"No, sire. He said _if_ they took Edmund, they'd be here."

Peter narrowed his eyes, looking around the area even more. "They had no idea we were coming. They wouldn't have been able to hide quick enough by the time they saw us coming."

"You do have to remember the wolf said they had no intentions of taking King Edmund with them."

"Then where is he?" Peter asked in a low voice. "I want this place searched." He ordered all the Narnians that were there already. "Don't leave any place unsearched until we find King Edmund!"

* * *

Drumit stood over the washbasin, wringing the cloth in his hand. Edmund was starting to feel warmer. It wouldn't be good for the king to get a fever, or worse and infection, while he was under the care of Drumit. No patient of his was going to get worse on his watch.

"I think you're getting a little fever." Drumit said as he moved towards Edmund with the wash cloth in hand.

Edmund narrowed his eyes. He knew this, but didn't want to admit it. "I'm fine."

Drumit worried his lower lip. "Do you think I could put this wash cloth on your forehead? You'd feel so much better."

"I don't accept help from people that have kidnapped me." Edmund seethed.

Drumit sighed as he put the wash cloth back in the bowl. "I swear, it wasn't me. It was all Sybil."

Edmund forced himself to sit up and stared at Drumit. "Why are you helping her? You are a free Narnian who that owes nothing to Sybil. If you let me go right now, I'll be sure you aren't punished for any of this."

Drumit shook his head, not looking at Edmund. "It's not that simple… I told Sybil this was a bad idea, that she should figure out how to get un-banished without having to involve you or any of the other monarchs, but she was insistent. When that girl is set on doing something, she's going to do it, no matter what's in her way. She's actually a very sweet girl, but stubborn. SheActually reminds me of a minotaur a lot time, to be honest. Sometimes I wonder if she should've been born as a minotaur. Definitely would be a wonderful warrior. Handles any weapon you give her perfectly…" Drumit looked at Edmund and noticed the dull expression on his face. "Oh…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to babble off like that." He looked away and grabbed the bowl. "Are you sure you don't want the wash cloth?"

Edmund took a quick glance around the room and he came up with an idea. "No, but I would like some water to drink. I'm awfully thirsty."

Drumit nodded his head as he got up and walked to the table. He grabbed the pitcher but frowned when he realized it was empty. "Um…we don't have anymore…"

"Do you think you could possibly get me some? Like I said, I'm parched."

"I'd have to go over to the river to get some…"

"I'm not going anywhere. You've bandaged up my wounds so you know they're pretty bad and you know I'm getting a fever too. I _can't_ go anywhere."

Drumit nodded his head and a smile even appeared on the faun's face. "You're right. I'll be right back. Try not to…well, escape." He grabbed the pitcher and a watersking and walked towards the door.

Edmund watched Drumit until he was out of the odd little house. Edmund stared at the door for a few moments. He needed to wait to make sure Drumit wouldn't return for something he'd forgotten.

Once Edmund was sure Drumit wouldn't come back, he took a deep breath and pushed himself off the bed. He hissed from the pain, but did his best to ignore it. He made his way out of the house and outside. He turned around, just to see where he had been in, exactly. It was a huge tree that had been made hollow. Passing by, you wouldn't have known it served as a house as well. Edmund took a few unsteady steps forward as he stared at the hill in front of him. He immediately recognized it as the Stone Table. Edmund began believing that in all likelihood, he'd be back at Cair Paravel in time for supper.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Drumit glanced over his shoulder for what had to be the tenth time within five minutes. He just really wanted to be sure no one was following him. All his life, Drumit had been pretty jumpy, but now he was jumpier than usual. They were holding King Edmund against his will for goodness sake! Of course he was going to be more jumpy.

Drumit took a deep breath as he kept walking, trying to still staying aware of everything in his surroundings. He just had to get some water, then he could go back. Everything would be fine. He was being ridiculous and over thinking the entire situation.

"You!" a huge leopard jumped in front of him. His teeth were barred and was giving him a low growl. "Where are you going?"

Drumit dropped the water skin and pitcher. "I…I w-was…" The pressure was too much for Drumit. His eyes rolled backwards and he fell to the ground. This was the second time in his entire life that Drumit had fainted.

* * *

Edmund was doing his best to try and keep his breathing even, but it was so hard. He felt as if he had just ran three laps around Cair Paravel. He had barely managed to walk far enough to be out of sight of the house. He wanted to stop to take a break, but he knew if he did, he would never get going again.

He gritted his teeth and kept moving, leaning heavily on the trees around him. He was moving slowly, but at least he was making progress. Edmund looked back to the Stone Table and could make out the forms of people. It was Peter with some Narnian warriors, Edmund was sure of it. If he had the strength, he would've started yelling, but Edmund decided to save that energy and use it to make his way there.

A hand rightly covered his mouth and he was dragged into a shadier part of the forest. Edmund tried struggling, but his entire left side rippled with pain.

"You were stabbed in the back of your left shoulder, hits over the side of the head with a mallet, and now have a fever that seems to be getting worse. Keep struggling and more injuries are going to be added to that list."

Edmund tried to bite the hand, but it was firmly closed and he could hardly open his mouth. It was Sybil.

She turned him around and pushed him against a tree, making his wound burn with pain. but Bbefore he could yell, she had a dagger against his throat. "Say one word and it'll be your last." She said with narrowed eyes.

Edmund could barely make her face out with the hood that covered practically covered it entirely, but he could still see her eyes. They were so cold. Edmund stared back at her, mirroring her coldness. He kept quiet, knowing she would most likely go through with her threat.

"What did you do to Drumit?"

Edmund said nothing.

"I asked you a question. Where is Drumit?" she asked, pushing the dagger further into his throat. Edmund felt his skin break and a small drop of blood fell out.

He still said nothing.

"Answer me!" she hissed, drawing closer to his face.

Edmund narrowed his eyes, "You just said if I spoke it'd be the last time."

Sybil rolled her eyes. "Just answer my question."

Edmund swore he almost heard pleading in her voice. "He went to get water."

Sybil sighed and shut her eyes. "I swear, he's going to get us caught." Her grip on the dagger loosed just a touch.

"I don't think we'll be able to find him here, Leo. We've gone over practically this entire area and there's been no sign of him."

Sybil's eyes widened as she heard the voices. She quickly pressed the dagger to Edmund's throat, daring him to cry out. Edmund was feeling weaker and wouldn't even make an attempt at the moment. Sybil took a peek behind the tree and saw a dwarf and a leopard walking around.

"We need to find some kind of evidence of him though. Something that will let the High King know he's still alive." The leopard, Leo, said as he looked up at the dwarf, Kipt.

The dwarf Kipt sighed and shook his head. "I don't think we're going to find _anything_."

Leo suddenly stiffened, holding his nose further out. "Do you smell that?"

Kipt frowned. "Of course not. You're the one with the nose. I've got the eyes."

Leo sniffed the air. "Human. Two of them. They're close by…" he started walking slowly towards the tree Sybil and Edmund were behind.

Sybil held her breath, hoping something would happen

Leo suddenly stopped and snapped his head the other way. "Someone's coming." He whispered to Kipt. He hid behind a tree opposite Sybil and Edmund and Kipt followed right behind him.

Sybil frowned as she tried to see what they had heard. There was rustling from behind one of the trees and Drumit came out. He kept on looking all around him as if he were expecting someone to jump out.

Sybil held in a curse. This was not good. She didn't even want to look at Edmund, knowing he was probably smirking.

Leo suddenly jumped out in front of Drumit. "You! Where are you going?" he asked as he barred his teeth and began growling.

Sybil shut her eyes and shook her head, knowing what was going to happen next.

She faintly heard Drumit trying to speak, but then he stopped and she heard a soft thud. She opened her eyes again only to see Drumit crumbled on the ground.

"Leo, what did you do to the poor thing!" Kipt cried out as he ran to check on Drumit.

Leo winced, "Sorry Kipt. I didn't mean to scare him. I just…got too excited?"

Kipt shook his head as he tried to wake Drumit up.

"I think he was too jumpy though. Maybe he was hiding something…" Leo said as he sniffed Drumit.

"He probably saw all the guards and thought there was a search for some criminals going on…which is partly true." Kipt said as he stood up. "He just fainted. He'll be up in a few minutes."

"So then does that mean we should leave him here?" Leo asked as he started walking around and smelling the air again.

"No, I think we should wait until he wakes up. Maybe he saw something." Kipt said.

Sybil sighed. If they started questioning Drumit, he was definitely going to spill something. She finally looked over at Edmund who had victory written all over his face, despite the fact it was paler than what it was supposed to be and was covered with a sheen of sweat. She looked down to the bag of food she had gathered. Some vegetables and roots for a soup she was going to make for dinner. Knowing it was the only way, Sybil reached down to grab the bag and threw it across the woods.

At the sound of it landing, Kipt and Leo immediately turned towards the direction where it landed.

"What was that?" Kipt whispered.

"I don't know…we should check it out though." Leo answered as he crouched down and slowly began making his way towards the sound.

Kipt glanced at Drumit one last time. "Sorry faun," he said before following after Leo.

Sybil waited for a few minutes until she was sure they weren't going to come back. She roughly grabbed Edmund's right elbow and pulled him with her. She bent down next to Drumit, making sure Edmund wasn't going to get away, and began to gently slap Drumit's face. "Durmit, wake up. Come on, we need to get under cover."

Drumit only moaned in response.

Sybil groaned in frustration as gave Drumit's face another slap, this time harder than the others. "Drumit, wake up!" she hissed.

Drumit's eyes shot open and he stared at Sybil. "Th-that…that cat! It was…huge! He al-almost…" Drumit sat up and slowly looked around. His eyes widened when he saw Edmund scowling at them both. He slowly turned to look back at Sybil and she was scowling at him as well. He bit his lower lip. "We were out of water…?"

Sybil just huffed as she got up. "Come on. They're looking for him. We need to get him back to the house."

Drumit stood up slowly, watching her stalking off with Edmund trailing behind her, his feet starting to trip over each other. Drumit looked around the forest a few more times, still trying to find other guards.

"Drumit, get over here!" Sybil whispered loudly.

Drumit turned to her and saw her trying to hold Edmund up. He had passed out again. He quickly ran towards her and helped her carry him.

"I swear, you'd think he wouldn't be so heavy for looking so thin and bony." Sybil muttered as they quickly made their way through the forest.

* * *

It really was a miracle that they had made it back to the house without being caught. Thankfully, Edmund hadn't made it that far from the house, so it wasn't that bad. They carefully laid Edmund back down on the bed. "He's burning up!" Drumit exclaimed as he put a hand to his forehead.

Sybil quickly took off her cloak and tossed it on the ground "He wouldn't be in this condition if you hadn't decided to go out for water." she snapped, placing a cool wash cloth on his forehead. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she started wiping away the sweat that covered his face.

Drumit rolled his eyes as he went to tend the fire. "He asked for water. Since he wouldn't let me do anything about the fever, I thought I could at least get him some water."

"Never leave him alone again, Drumit!" Sybil yelled this time. "Don't you realize how much this means to finally have him?"

Drumit pursed his lips. He had no idea how to respond to her yelling. He just turned back to the fire and ignored her.

Sybil sighed, realizing she had been too harsh. "Drumit, I didn't mean to yell like that." She got up and sat next to him.

Drumit just moved his back towards her again.

"Come on, Drumit. Don't be like this. It's just…we're so close and…we've never been this close before."

Drumit seemed to only move further away from Sybil.

She huffed, losing what little patience she still had. "Drumit, I'm apologizing. Considering the fact that _I'm_ apologizing and you are still not saying anything is really-"

"Don't you hear that?" Drumit asked suddenly in a whisper as he turned to look at her.

Sybil frowned, trying to hear what Drumit heard. "I don't hear anything." She replied in a whisper.

Drumit jumped up, careful his hooves didn't make too much noise on the ground and slowly walked towards the door. Sybil followed him and pressed her ear against the door, like Drumit was doing. Her eyes widened as she finally heard what Drumit was talking about.

High King Peter was just outside the house.

* * *

"Sire, it's been nearly four hours. It's already midday and you have had nothing to eat since yesterday." Orieus said as he started following Peter around the forest.

Peter kept his hand on his sword hilt as he had been doing the entire time they had been searching. "I've already told you Orieus, we aren't stopping until we find Edmund."

"Bayne didn't even believe the rest of the fell army took King Edmund."

"Then why can't we find him?" Peter snapped as he spun around to face the centaur. "If the wolf is lying, where is Edmund? Did he just take off on his own accord, right after an attack like that? No, someone took him and I plan on finding him!" Peter turned around and began walking again, looking in every place he could think of.

"I understand you wish to find him, but you also have to remember that Cair is recovering from a grueling attack! What if there are more fell beasts out there waiting to attack?"

Peter paused and closed his eyes. He knew his duty as a king was to go back to Cair and prepare for another attack if there should be one, but he also knew his duty as an older brother was to find Edmund and bring him back.

They stopped in a small clearing in the forest and Peter noticed a tree that was larger than any other he had seen. His brows came together as he stared at it. "I don't think I've ever seen any tree like this in Narnia." He said thoughtfully. Ed would've loved to try and climb it, he added in his head.

"So do you agree to return to Cair Paravel?" Orieus asked, not wanting to waste any more time.

Peter slowly walked towards the tree and pressed his ear against it. He frowned as he brought his knuckle to the trunk and knocked. "It's sounds hollow…"

"It's impossible for a tree like that to be hollow." Orieus said.

Peter didn't respond as he took a few steps round the tree. He knocked again, hearing the same hollow sound. He did this three times, each in a different spot. Every time, he heard the hollow sound.

"King Peter, your orders?"

Peter closed his eyes and moved away from the peculiar tree. "Aslan, bring him home." He whispered.

"Sire?" Orieus had heard him mumbling, but didn't catch a word.

Peter opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "Gather the troops. We're returning to Cair Paravel. Have them prepare for an attack. And bring Bayne to the War Room. I wish to speak with him." Peter said darkly.

Orieus gave a quick bow before trotting off.

"Peter!"

Peter spun around. "Edmund?" He could've swore he heard his voice. "Ed, where are you!" he called out again, searching the trees for any sign of his brother.

There was nothing, though. Peter couldn't hear anything except for the leaves rustling in the wind. Peter pursed his lips as he looked around the forest again. No, he hadn't heard anything. It was just wishful thinking. He looked at the tree one last time before following after Orieus.

* * *

"How long has he been knocking on the tree?" Sybil whispered, moving away from the door and into the center. At least if they were in the center, there'd be less of a chance of being heard.

"He just started." Drumit answered quietly, moving to stand next to her.

"I wish he'd go back already." Sybil muttered.

Drumit bit his lower lip and slowly moved to one of the walls to listen for any other sounds. He faintly heard Peter speak. He was giving someone orders. Relief flooded Drumit when he heard Peter clearly say "returning to Cair Paravel." He turned back to Sybil and smiled, nodding his head.

Sybil understood him and a smile covered her face as well. That had been a close-

"Peter!" Edmund cried out as he sat up.

Sybil practically jumped on top of him and covered his mouth with not only her hands, but several blankets as well. Edmund glared at Sybil and tried to push her off of him, but he was too weak with the fever and his wounds that he couldn't even shove her. His cries were muffled completely until he just gave up.

"He's looking for him!" Drumit hissed, moving back to the center of the room.

"Edmund? Ed, where are you!" Peter's voice clearly rang throughout the small house.

Sybil looked at Edmund. He had his eyes closed tightly, but Sybil could still make out the emotional pain on Edmund's face. In that moment, she actually felt bad for kidnapping Edmund and taking him away from his family. She quickly reminded herself of why she did it though and crushed those remorseful feelings.

They all stayed quiet and still for what seemed like hours before Drumit spoke up. "I think he's gone." He whispered cautiously.

"Check," Sybil said, speaking a little louder.

Drumit cast a worried glance at the door before making his way towards it. He pressed his ear against it first before slowly opening it and walking out. He came back in after walking around the tree once and quickly shut the door. "He's gone." Drumit said with a huge breath of relief.

Sybil let out a huge sigh and moved the blankets and her hand away from Edmund's mouth. "That was too close." She said, leaning against the wall. She closed her eyes and laughed lightly. "Oh Aslan, thank you."

"You don't even deserve to speak his name." Edmund said in the coldest tone he could muster.

Sybil turned to stare at him. She shook her head and ran her tongue over her teeth. "I don't have to explain _anything_ to you. So you can say whatever you want, but I'm just going to ignore it all." She stood up and walked to the table.

Drumit got up and sat on the edge of the bed. He checked Edmund's forehead again and even clicked his tongue at the scratch on his throat. Edmund, however, didn't once look at Drumit. He kept his gaze on Sybil, as if she would drop dead if he just stared at her long enough. "Um…" Drumit glanced from Edmund to Sybil, feeling very uncomfortable. "Well, y-your fever's not as bad…it's still there though…uh, d-do you think I could, um…see your sh-shoulder?"

Edmund didn't look at Drumit as he slowly laid back down on his stomach. Drumit glanced over at Sybil who still refused to look their way. He carefully pulled back Edmund's shirt and grimaced. Blood had begun seeping through the bandages. He took them off and his grimace only deepened as he saw yellow puss mixing with the blood. "This isn't good…" he muttered to himself. He got up to grab some salve and more bandages.

As he was dressing Edmund's wound, Sybil grabbed her bag and started throwing all kinds of things in it. Drumit frowned as he watched her pack. "What are you doing?"

"It's not safe here anymore. I don't care how the _king_ is doing, we are leaving." She said, adding some blankets into the bag.

"But Sybil-"

"No, Drumit! Don't you realize how close we are? I am not losing this chance." Sybil looked from Drumit to Edmund. "I'll make something to eat, but we're leaving today."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lucy played with her oatmeal, stirring it around and making figures with the cinnamon at the top. She wasn't hungry, yet Mrs. Beaver insisted on placing food in front of her. She knew Mrs. Beaver had the best of intentions, but she how could she eat at a time like this? It was late afternoon and Peter still wasn't back yet. The idea of a surprise attack would not leave her alone.

The door to the dining hall opened and Susan came in with several scrolls in her arms. Lucy could tell from the worried look in her eyes that she hadn't heard anything from Peter either. "Have you started eating yet?" Susan asked quietly, standing over Lucy.

Lucy looked down at the oatmeal, scooping some up and tilting the spoon over so it could plop back down into the bowl. "I'm not hungry, Susan." She murmured.

"You have to eat something. Please, Lucy. You're going to feel horrible later if you don't eat something." Susan sat down placed the scrolls down in front of her. She opened one of the scrolls and began reading intently.

Lucy wondered why Susan was doing work in the private dining hall. She always insisted that work should never come into the private dining hall. She assumed it was because Susan didn't want to be alone either.

"Have you eaten something?" Lucy asked instead.

Susan pursed her lips and looked back at Lucy. She attempted a smile, but it faded quickly. "You know how my stomach gets when I'm under pressure. Once Peter comes back with Ed, then I'll eat. Can you promise me you'll eat too?"

There was a quick rap at the door before it opened and Mr. Tumnus came in. He bowed quickly. "My Queens, High King Peter has returned."

Lucy's face lit up with hope. "Is Edmund with him?"

Mr. Tumnus shook his head. "I don't know. Some guards told me of his arrival. I wasn't able to see him for myself."

Susan grabbed Lucy's hand and the two of them made their way to the entrance hall. Peter didn't seem to notice them as he started walking up the staircase.

"Peter!" Lucy exclaimed as she let go of Susan and ran towards Peter.

Peter turned around just as Lucy wrapped her arms around him. He did his best to give her a hug, even though his mind was focused only on getting to the War Room.

"Did you find Ed?" Susan asked as she walked towards them.

Peter gave a sigh. He kissed the top of Lucy's head and leaned over to give Susan a brief hug and a kiss on her cheek. "No, not yet." He said gravely.

Lucy let go of Peter and gave him a worried look.

"I'll find him. Don't worry." He said before turning away.

"There has to be something you found, though." Susan said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Peter stopped for a moment and turned to face his sisters. "I'm working on it. I'll find him."

* * *

"I don't know how, but his fever's back. It seems so much worse this time." Drumit said as he continued to wipe down Edmund's forehead.

Sybil tossed out the rest of the soup she had made. She made onion soup since she had nothing else to work with. Drumit had managed to make Edmund swallow down a few bites, but that was it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. They would get through this. Edmund's fever would go down again, they'd get to Archenland and she'd be unbanished after Edmund spoke with King Lune. Everything would go smoothly.

Chills went up Sybil's spine as she heard Edmund vomit the few bites he had eaten. She grabbed her cloak and tossed another to Drumit. "Get him up and make sure he keeps the cloak on. We can't have anyone recognizing him."

"You can't be serious!" Drumit exclaimed. "We can't travel with him like this! He's only going to get worse, Sybil. We need to take him back to Cair and just say we found him in the woods like this."

"I am not losing this chance!" she snapped. She pulled on the cloak and grabbed her bag. "Get him up, Drumit."

"Why don't we just explain to the monarchs what happened? Why you were banished, I'm sure they'll understand."

Sybil spun around so fast, it scared Drumit half to death. "I can never tell anyone what happened. Do you know how much worse the situation will become if I tell _anyone_?" she hissed. She took a few deep breaths. "We need to leave."

Drumit pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "No. This is crazy. I am not going to help you anymore. I don't want to do this."

Sybil gave Drumit a hard stare. "Fine. Stay here. I don't care. But I'm taking the king with me and I'm going back to Archenland."

Drumit watched as Sybil sat Edmund up. He made no response as she put the cloak on him and made sure the hood made him unrecognizable. She slowly stood up with his arm around her shoulder. Drumit nervously shifted his weight from one hoof to the other, biting his lip as he watched Sybil slowly make her way to the door.

Drumit groaned, knowing what he needed to do, but not liking it one bit. He grabbed his horns and squeezed them in frustration in the situation and himself. "Wait, Sybil." He called out before she could open the door. "I'll go with you."

Sybil turned to look at Drumit, a small smirk on her face. "I knew you would."

Drumit rolled his eyes. "But we need to get him to a healer. He isn't going to make it if we don't."

"Drumit, we don't have time."

"I don't care if we don't have time. It wouldn't be helpful if we ended up going back into Archenland with a _dead_ king. That will definitely start a war."

"Fine and what healer do you suggest we go to? All the healers in Narnia will tell the High King if we bring in Edmund."

Drumit bit his lip and lowered his head a little. "We could always go to Althea."

Sybil stiffened. She adjusted her grip on Edmund and had him lean more against the door. She had thought of Althea, but she swore never to go back to her. "No."

"Sybil, we have to!"

"We can't Drumit! She lives all the way in Owlwood. Do you know how far away that is from here? We're only two days away from Archenland. If we go to Owlwood, that will set us back another two days, not including the time it will take for Edmund to heal."

"Then he's going to die!" Drumit finally yelled.

Sybil gave Drumit a hard stare. Drumit never yelled. It caught Sybil by surprise that he yelled.

Drumit's face went pale as it just dawned on him that he yelled, at Sybil no less. "I-I…I didn't…I just yelled…I mean, of course I yelled, i-it's just I n-never-"

"It's all right." Sybil said, interrupting another one of his stuttering explanations. "I know I may not be acting rationally right now, but I just want to be back in Archenland already."

"I know, but that's never going to happen if King Edmund dies on us."

Sybil let out a heavy sigh. She glanced at Edmund. Even in the dim lighting of the house, she could tell how pale he was. "Fine, we'll take him to Althea."

* * *

Peter shut the door as the last guard exited the War Room. It was just he and Bayne now, just as he wanted it to be. He slowly turned around to face the wolf. His four paws were shackled and he had a muzzle over his mouth.

"Since you insist on speaking to me alone, I feel it's safe to assume you haven't found your traitor brother." Bayne said through the muzzle.

Peter pursed his lips as he started to slowly walk around Bayne. "You seem to be pretty confident in your statement."

The wolf growled. "As I told your general, we had no plans of taking him alive. We were going to kill him here on your own soil. It'd make the loss a lot more painful, wouldn't you agree?"

Peter didn't respond. "How many of you are there?"

The wolf barked out a laugh. "Finally asking the right questions."

Peter kicked his side and the wolf fell over, let out a howl as he did. "And I want the right answers."

Bayne let out a low growl as he pushed himself back to a sitting position. "Four hundred. We were hiding in the Northern Marsh before we attacked."

Peter nodded his head. He moved over the fire that was slowly burning out. He grabbed some tongs and began moving the wood around to rekindle the fire. "Are there any more of you?"

Bayne stared straight ahead. "No."

"Is this the truth?"

He growled. "You've captured me, the leading general of the fell army. Why would I lie now?"

Peter left the tongs in the fireplace. "Why did you wait so long to attack?"

Bayne rolled his eyes. "So that you little kings and queens would think you were safe."

"Final question…" Peter grabbed the tongs from the fireplace and walked towards Bayne. He held the red-hot iron inches away from Bayne's side. "Where is my brother."

"Probably dead." Bayne barked.

Peter brought the iron closer to Bayne and lightly touched him with it.

The wolf immediately let out a howl, but remained standing.

"Where is my brother?" Peter repeated in a deadly tone.

Bayne panted, refusing to answer his question.

"While you still may be a traitor, you are still a Narnian. I do not wish to bring you any harm. But if you do not answer my questions, I will not hesitate."

Bayne licked his jaw. "I don't know anything. We weren't supposed to take him. I have no idea where your brother is."

Peter lightly touched Bayne with the tong again and he let out another loud howl. "There's something you're not telling me. There has to be."

"I swear, there is nothing!" Bayne now whimpered.

Peter brought the tong closer to Bayne again, but Bayne quickly laid down in a position of submission to avoid the red-hot iron.

"Wait! Wait, there was something…I don't know if it'll help though." Bayne pleaded.

Peter moved the tong away. "What is it?"

"A few days before we were going to attack, th-there was this girl…I don't know where she came from, but she snuck into our camp…she was listening to us as we were finalizing our plans to attack. We tried to capture her when we figured out she was over-listening, but she escaped. I swear there's nothing else. We thought she would tell you of the attack, but I guess not. She must've had her own reasons for listening in."

Peter stared down at Bayne. He could tell that this was the only thing left the wolf had to say. "How did she look like?"

"I don't know. She wore a hood and no one could make out any features. We were barely able to tell that she was a girl."

Peter nodded his head. He walked back to the fireplace and put the tongs back in place. He walked towards the doors, ready to leave and figure out his next move.

"Wait, what about me? I've given you all the information. Aren't you going to let me go?"

Peter scoffed lightly. He turned to look at Bayne once more. "You are loyal to the tyrant White Witch. You attacked Cair Paravel. You are going to spend the rest of your miserable days in the dungeons."

Peter walked out of the War Room and ignored Bayne's pleas for release.

* * *

Drumit had no idea how they had made it so far. Drumit convinced Sybil to stop a few times to regain their strength for a few moments. Edmund hadn't woken up enough to start walking on his own so they had to take turns supporting him up as they walked. His fever wasn't getting any worse, but it wasn't getting any better. That's why Drumit was fairly surprised when he figured out they were halfway to Althea's home.

They stopped for the night next to the Great River. The trees kept them hidden still, but soon they would have to walk through open fields. It would be so much easier for them to be spotted. Drumit actually thought it was a miracle they hadn't been spotted yet. Maybe the cloak covering Edmund really did make him unrecognizable.

Drumit started to look through the bag for another blanket. They had laid one out for Edmund, setting him down on his stomach so as to not make his shoulder injury worse. Drumit noticed that he was shivering though. He hoped the shivering wasn't from the fever as he laid a blanket over Edmund.

"We really are trying to keep you alive, you know." Drumit said as he sat next to Edmund. He knew Edmund probably wasn't going to hear him at all, but it was nice to talk to him still. "I know it seems like Sybil really doesn't care about your well-being, but deep down she does. Trust me." Drumit pursed his lips as he looked around the forest. Speaking of Sybil she wasn't back yet. She had left earlier to collect firewood. That had to have been two hours ago.

A panic attack started to creep up on Drumit. How had he not realized Sybil had been gone for so long? Maybe it was because he had been taking care of Edmund the entire time, but that still didn't excuse it! What if something happened to her? What if she was attacked by some kind of rogue bear? What if guards from Cair Paravel found her and arrested her and were now coming for him?

Drumit jumped up and started wringing his hands as he started to pace around the little campsite. He needed to go look for her. He had to make sure she was safe. Drumit looked over at Edmund. He couldn't leave him alone. What if someone found him? At least if Drumit was here, he could hopefully come up with some lie. Drumit hated lying though and he knew he was pretty miserable at it too.

The trees behind him started rustling. Drumit's immediate assumption was that it was Sybil. As the trees rustled more, he realized it was too noisy to be Sybil. Drumit reached into the bag, searching for a dagger, but ended up pulling out a wooden spoon. He was so on edge, he didn't want to reach in to find the dagger. He stood right where Edmund was asleep and held the spoon out, trying to be ready for anything. As soon as the trees started parting, though, Drumit screwed his eyes shut, but still held out the wooden spoon.

Drumit heard a soft neigh. He swallowed hard. A talking horse. Great. It was finally over. The horse was going to take Edmund back and hand them in. They'd end up being banished from Narnia and would have to go to Calormen. From what Drumit heard, it was a miserable place and he didn't want to go there.

"Drumit, what are you doing?'

Drumit slowly opened his eyes and saw Sybil staring at him. Behind her was a large horse that she was holding by some reigns. He blinked a few times, trying to make sure this was real. "S-Sybil?"

"Who else do you think it is?" she snapped. "What are you doing with that spoon?" she asked as she started walking towards a tree and tied the horse there.

"What am I…? The horse…? Sybil!"

"What?" she asked, clearly annoyed with his inability to form a coherent question. She placed a few twigs in the small fire they had near Edmund. "Any change in him?"

Drumit continued staring at her in shock. "B-but the horse!"

Sybil rolled her eyes before sitting on the ground next to Edmund. She knew she wouldn't get a good answer out of him until she explained herself. "I saw him grazing out in a field alone. I watched for a while to make sure he isn't a talking horse, which he isn't. Must belong to some dwarves or something. Now tell me if Edmund is doing better. I can't tell." She muttered as she placed a hand on his forehead.

Drumit shook his head. "So you decide to _steal_ him?"

"Would you keep your voice down!" Sybil hissed as she jumped up. "I did not steal him…I'm just borrowing him for a prolonged period of time without letting the owner know."

"Oh, dear Aslan…" Drumit mumbled as he rubbed his face. "You're going to get us killed!"

Sybil huffed. She knew if she didn't calm Drumit down, he'd start one of his panic attacks and then she'd never find out if Edmund's condition changed at all. "Drumit, it's fine. Nothing is going to happen to us. I took so long to come back because I was making sure no one was watching as I took the horse. We will only take the horse to Althea's, then will set him. The horse will find its way back to where he belongs. Do you understand?"

Drumit slowly nodded his head as he turned to stare at the horse. The horse seemed to sense Drumit's gaze as it looked up from the grass and stared right back at Drumit.

"Are you okay now?"

Drumit swallowed and nodded his head again.

Sybil took a deep breath, controlling her frustration with Drumit. "Now do you think you can tell me how Edmund is doing?"

Drumit turned to face Sybil as if that were the first time she had asked him that. "The fever hasn't gotten any worse, but it's not better either. His shoulder looks like it's getting infected too."

"Well did you give him some of that Calormen medicine?"

"Yes, but he nearly threw it up all over me." Drumit said, this time with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Sybil shook her head. "We're moving." She said as she bent down and started to lift Edmund up.

"What? But you haven't even gotten any rest! If we keep moving-"

"Drumit, we have a horse. I'm one of the best riders in Archenland and I'll be able to stay awake. I'll take Edmund with me and you can catch up. Now help me get Edmund on the horse."

"This is crazy. How many times do I have to keep telling you this?" He said, but still helping her pick up Edmund and put him on the horse. Drumit did his best to hold Edmund up on the horse while Sybil untied it and jumped on. She sat right behind Edmund and held him close so he wouldn't topple over. "Sybil, you are going to get caught." Drumit said as earnestly as he could. "Two humans in Narnia riding a dumb horse is going to draw attention."

"If I ride hard all night, I'll make it to Althea's by mid-morning tomorrow." Sybil said. The horse started to stamp his hooves, knowing that he was about to ride out. "You can stay here the night, but please meet us there."

Drumit swallowed hard. It was now or never. Sybil was only going to do more dangerous things. It was going to escalate until they ended up with their heads chopped off. Considering they had a _dying_ King of Narnia, he didn't doubt the High King would have any problem with cutting off their heads. "I can't Sybil." He said quietly.

Sybil frowned. "What are you talking about?" she snapped.

"This is madness. I can't take it anymore. My nerves-"

"Drumit, stop being such a baby and just do it!"

"No, Sybil!" he wanted to yell at her, but it came out as a sqeak instead. He cleared his throat and said one last thing. "No, I'm done."

Sybil stared him down. "You're supposed to stay in your home anyways. I hope you have a good life, Drumit." She said harshly. She roughly kicked the horse in the side and he took off after a loud neigh.

Drumit watched as long as he could as Sybil rode further and further into the forest. He took a deep breath. He wasn't going to go after her. Despite what everything inside him was telling him, he was _not_ going after her.

* * *

Sybil didn't start slowing down until the sun started to peak over the horizon. By that point, Sybil could see the small outline of Althea's hut. She was surprised at how fast she had gotten here, but then again, she had only stopped once and pushed the horse to run fast. She was tired and wanted nothing but to sleep, but she didn't have time for that. She needed to stay awake to explain to Althea what was going on. She would have to swallow her pride to do that.

Sybil gently moved Edmund over with her arm while still holding the reigns. She really did hope Althea would be able to heal him. In all honesty, she meant no harm to King Edmund. She just wanted to get back to Archenland. He was her only way back. She didn't know exactly what would make him want to give his consent to King Lune now, but she didn't want to worry about that. She had enough to worry about with whether or not he'd actually live.

The sun slowly started to rise higher and Sybil finally reached Althea's hut. There was smoke already coming billowing out from inside. Althea always was an early riser. She shook her head from the memories and carefully dismounted the horse, making sure Edmund wouldn't fall off. She slipped him off the horse and held him up from under his shoulders. She could hear him muttering something incoherently in her ear. She didn't realize how close his mouth was to her ear and his breath tickled her ear. She shook her head, trying to push his head further away.

Before Sybil could even knock on the door, it swung open. Althea stood there, leaning on her walking stick and staring straight ahead. She was an older mole and her vision had left her years ago. The only thing she relied on was her hearing and scent.

Althea sniffed the air twice with her over grown nose. "Well, well, well, Sybil Griffith. I never thought you'd be stupid enough to come back after what you did."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lucy slowly sipped her tea and set it down as quietly as she could. The dining room was completely quiet which was an odd thing, but considering the circumstances…

"Now can I go?" Peter asked in a pointed voice as he set his spoon down and stared at Susan who was sitting right across from him.

"You've barely touched your soup." Susan responsded. "You are going to faint if you don't eat properly."

Lucy sipped her tea again, trying to avoid contact with her older siblings. There was so much tension between Susan and Peter at the moment and Lucy hated it. After Peter had come back from the Stone Table yesterday, he had spent the rest of the day planning his next move and preparing the few guards he was going to take. He was just about to ride out this morning to the Northern Marshes before Susan stopped him and made him come back in to eat. It was obvious that Peter didn't have an appetite, yet Susan would not let him leave until he fininshed his bowl of soup.

"I don't know if you realize why we are going to the Northern Marsh. We are going to search for Edmund. That's where the fell army was and there's a possiblity Edmund might be there too."

Susan took a deep breath. "And if there's another army waiting for you there? Are you going to fight even though you literally have no energy? Peter, something will happen to you if you do that. _Please,_ finish the soup."

"I can't waste anymore time, Susan. I need to leave." Peter said as he stood up and started walking away.

Lucy cleared her throat, knowing if she didn't say something, Peter would defnintely leave. "We can't lose two brothers, Peter."

Peter stopped. It was always Lucy that knew exactly what to say. If she didn't have good examples, Lucy could get away with murder if she made her eyes just a little bigger. Peter slowly turned around and looked at his two sisters. He could see the same worry and concern in both of their faces, they just expressed it differently. Susan was mothering while Lucy was honest. Peter was just reminded of how much he loved his sisters.

He made his way back to his chair and began eating his soup.

* * *

"Thank you, Peter." Susan said softly. "And don't worry. You'll find Edmund. I'm sure of it."

Sybli clenched her jaw. If she wasn't holding Edmund upright, she probably would've brought some kind of physical harm to Althea. "You know I did nothing to you. It was you that drove me away."

Despite Althea being blind, she seemed to look directly at Sybil. She sniffed the air again. "You've got someone with you…it isn't that idiot faun though."

"Drumit isn't an idiot." Sybil defended. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I need your help."

"And what makes you think I'm going to help someone like you? You've been banished from Archenland for how long now? Ten years?"

Sybil glanced over her shoulder. It was morning and talking animals were bound to be coming out and would begin to notice. They might be able to recognize Edmund despite his hood. "At least let me inside." Her voice almost sounded pleading.

Althea stepped away from the doorway and Sybil quickly stepped in. She laid Edmund down on the nearest bed, pulling his cloak away as she did so. He let out a soft moan and his face moved a little to show his discomfort. Sybil guessed it was good that he was somewhat responsive. Sybil pressed her hand to Edmund's forehead. Even if she wasn't a healer, she could tell his fever was getting no better though.

Althea stood next to Sybil and sniffed the air. "You've brought someone that's got a lot of power in Narnia." She sniffed again. "And an infection."

Sybil didn't even question how she figured this out. "Can you please help him?"

Althea tilted her chin up. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just heal him. Make the infection go away and his fever to go down."

"How?"

"I don't know! You're the healer!" Sybil snapped. She wished nothing more than to strangle Althea, but she was the only one who could help her know. She wondered if Drumit was here would Althea agree. Althea always did like Drumit better. Probably because he was a Narnian.

"Why should I help you? You've been banished from Archenland for a pretty good reason and you nearly tried to kill me after you found out that I knew the real reason for your banishment."

Sybil pursed her lips and closed her eyes. "That was an accident." She said in her best calm voice at the moment. "I didn't know you had a lit candle on the table."

"Well you nearly burned my entire house down and then you took off!"  
"I saved you from that fire! And I left because you had tried to sell me to some Calormens the day before!"

Althea shrugged her shoulders. "I had to earn some kind of money."

Sybil let out a frustrated groan. "Can you just heal him for me?"

Althea seemed to stare straight at her and Sybil wondered if her sight had suddenly returned. "Who is he?"

"He's a…friend." Sybil quickly said. There was no way she was going to tell her who he actually was.

Althea scoffed. "People like you don't have friends. That's why Drumit's not with you anymore."

Sybil clenched her jaw. "Althea, just make him better. Please."

Althea turned her head towards Edmund. After a few moments of silence, she finally asked, "Where's his wound?"

* * *

The water was freezing as Drumit splashed some on his face. After Sybil left, Drumit stayed at the small campsite and tried to get some sleep. Every sound he heard he would jerk awake. He only ended up getting, at the most, two hours of sleep. Frustrated with not able to get any sleep, he got up and started wandering around the woods. He really had no idea what he was supposed to do now. He supposed he could go into the city and find some work, maybe a place to stay. It was what he always wanted anyways. But then again, he never imagined what he would do on his own. Sybil was always there and before her, it was her father. He couldn't even really remember his life in Narnia before Archenland.

Drumit stood up and started walking again. Maybe he could find his parents. He had a vague idea of how they looked like, but he for sure remembered their names. His dad, Cander, and his mom, Felir. Drumit couldn't remember the last time he'd seen them. He wondered if they would remember him. He was so young when they were separated.

"Hey, faun!"

Drumit froze. Was someone speaking to him? He was so used to avoiding civilization that when someone did try speaking to him, he'd go through another panic attack. Sybil was the one to always keep calm and talk to people, but never revealing who they really were.

"You look lost. Do you need some directions?" a hedgehog said as he walked in front of Drumit. He stood up on his hind legs and waited for Drumit to respond.

Drumit took a deep breath. Sybil made talking to others seems so easy. It couldn't be that hard. But what if the hedgehog knew him? Saw him with Sybil and Edmund? He might take him to Cair Paravel and he'd be executed!

"You all right? You're looking kind of pale…" the hedgehog said as he squinted his eyes at Drumit.

Drumit swallowed. "I-I'm fine." He took a few deep breaths and tried not to let his eyes dart around to look for unseen enemies.

"You're paranoid. I can tell. You've got good reason to be too."

Drumit froze. So he did know. "I can explain." It was out of Drumit's mouth before he could even think about it.

The hedgehog laughed. "You don't need to. We're all a little paranoid after what's happened."

At this, Drumit blinked a few times. It was obvious they were not talking about the same thing. "What?"

"You know, with the surprise attack on Cair Paravel. No one saw it coming and rumor has it, they captured King Edmund and are going to kill him. The queens, especially Queen Susan, are trying to keep all the Narnians calm. Can't blame us for going a bit crazy though. The High King's going to ride out today to the Northern Marsh and search for King Edmund there. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's already ridden out."

Drumit's face paled even more. Althea's house was close to the Northern Marsh. Close enough that King Peter might visit her. In the back of Drumit's mind, however, he wondered how this news spread so quickly.

"I never introduced myself did I?" the hedgehog said, astonished at his own rudeness. "I'm Harris. And you are?"

"Uh…I'm Drumiit."

"Well it's very nice to meet you Drumit. Would you like to come over to my house and have some tea? I'm sure my wife has some kind of breakfast ready too."

Drumit bit his lower lip and resisted the urge to pull on his horns. He should go warn Sybil. She deserved at least that.

"Come on. You're probably so pale because you haven't eaten anything yet, have you? My wife makes the best crumpets and I think she was actually making some this morning. If we're lucky, we'll get some before all the little ones snatch them up."

Drumit took a step back. "I've actually have somewhere I need to be right now."

Harris snorted. "You can't spare a few minutes for a quick breakfast?"

Drumit shook his head and started to walk backwards. "No, but thank you for the offer." Drumit spun around and quickly walked away. He was heading towards Althea's house. He knew he was far from it, but he had to beat the High King there.

* * *

They had arrived at the Northern Marshes within two hours. They had been searching the area for another two hours and still there was nothing. No sign of Edmund. There was hardly even any evidence that the Fell Beasts had camped there.

Peter stood up from where he had been kneeling. He had been looking at a pair of tracks, hoping it might be a lead.. It wasn't anything though. Just another dead end.

"Sire, may I be blunt with you?"

Peter looked at Orieus. Knowing the general, he wasn't going to say something Peter was going to like. "I know what you're going to say." He stated flatly, looking out at the mountains that were nearby. "Ed's not here."

Orieus waited for Peter to react more, but he didn't. Orieus continued. "I can't think of anything else that we could do here. We have searched this place as thouroughly as we did the Stone Table."

"We should check the surrounding area then."

"You mean Owl Wood?"

"Yes, they could've taken him there."

"But sire-"

"Orieus, as much as I appreciate all the advice you give me, I can't accept it this time. I need to find my brother. I promised Susan and Lucy that I would."

"And if we don't find him even then?'

Peter pursed his lips. He didn't want to think about that possibility. He didn't want that to be a possibility. "We'll figure it out once we get there.'"

* * *

"So is he going to be okay?" Sybil asked as she tried to stay still in her seat. Althea had been working on Edmund for a while now, but she still wouldn't give her any information.

Althea grabbed a few bottles from her shelf and sniffed them. She put two of them back and replaced them with two others. She sniffed them again and smiled, satisfied that she had grabbed the right ones. "He's definitely a fighter." She said as she started mixing the liquids together. "He was supposed to die hours ago."

"What?" This was definitely news to Sybil.

"Whatever weapon they used to stab his shoulder was poisoned. It's not infected, that's just all the poison seeping out of it. What have you given him?'

Sybil tried to remember what exactly Drumit had been giving him. If only Drumit was here, he could answer it for her. "Um, some kind of Calormen medicine and a salve."

"What was in the Calormen medicine?"

Sybil clenched her jaw. "I don't know." She said in a tight voice. "Drumit was the one that bought it and he was the one that was giving Edmund all the medicine."

"Guess that faun wasn't an idiot after all." Althea mumbled. "It's delayed the poison from taking full effect. I'm going to give him some medicine that should counteract it. He should be fully recovered in two weeks."

"I don't have that long. Can't you give him something that will make him heal quicker?"

"Oh Sybil. You always wanted to rush everything. You never learn do you? Maybe that's why you kept that faun around. He kept you grounded and made sure you didn't do anything rash. But you got rid of him now. Who's going to stop you from doing something completely stupid?"

If Althea wasn't an old, blind, mole, Sybil would've slapped her. Althea had a point though. Drumit had always been the level-headed one, even if he constantly had panic attacks. Sybil always had to remember that Drumit was the one that practically raised her. They were family and she had driven him away like that. There was no turning back though. She had King Edmund, would convince him to pardon her of her banishment once they were in Archenland and would then let him free and she would start a new life in Archenland.

Althea gave Edmund the medicine and he managed to not cough it up this time. "He should be waking up in a few hours." Althea stood up and managed to make her way towards the fire. She started to poke at the wood in there to build up the fire some more. Sybil was always amazed at Althea's ability to move around and do things despite being blind.

"Am I going to have to guess who this man is or are you going to tell me? And don't think that I won't be able to figure it out." Althea said as she took a seat by the fire.

Sybil quickly glanced at Edmund. He was at least looking a little better than earlier. "He's supposed to help me." She said quietly.

Althea scoffed. "I highly doubt he is going to do that. Knowing you, you probably took him against his will."

"It doesn't matter who he is-"

"He's the missing king, isn't he?" Althea stated bluntly.

Sybil pursed her lips. "How did you even know there was a missing king?" she asked tightly.

Althea actually chuckled. "News travels fast in Narnia. I actually had a feeling you were going to do something like this. Should've sold you to those traders earlier. Maybe then you wouldn't have caused so much trouble."

"Are you going to turn me in?"

Althea stopped mixing the potion she was working on. "It's my duty as a Narnian to turn you in, dear. There's no way around it."

Sybil took a deep breath and felt her heart sink. Drumit was right. This entire plan was doomed from the beginning. Now she'd be trapped in the Narnian dungeons for probably the rest of her life. She was just glad Drumit left when he did. She'd feel ten times worse if he had to be imprisoned as well.

Before Sybil could feel sorry for herself, the door swung open. "You have to hide, _now_!"

Sybil stood up with a huge grin on her face. "Drumit! You're back!"

"Yes, but you need to hide. King Peter has started looking through Owl Wood and he's going to check _everywhere_ including here." Drumit said as he quickly shut the door behind him.

Sybil looked at Edmund. There was no way they would be able to hide him if Peter really did come in. He needed to conitnue healing and that would mean he shouldn't be moved. Sybil turned her gaze to Althea. The blind mole seemed to be pretending to be completely oblivious. Once again, Sybil was going to have to put her pride aside and ask the mole for help.


End file.
